Showalter expands on injuries

The “manager’s decision” to scratch Chris Davis was made because of the first baseman’s sore right shoulder, not for disciplinary reasons.

“Right shoulder,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He came in today and Richie (Bancells) has been playing with his shoulder. He’s getting an MRI on it tomorrow, around 1:45. J.J. (Hardy) is going to get, I think, a CT scan on his ankle.

“Chris tried to take batting practice and was still feeling some discomfort with it throwing. We’ll see where we are tomorrow. Hopefully, we can get it taken care of. We’ll know what we’re dealing with tomorrow. We’ll take a look at it after they get the pictures.”

Buck Showalter meets with the media after the Orioles fall to the Blue Jays 5-4

Is this a new injury for Davis?

“As far as I know,” Showalter replied.

Showalter was dealing with a short bench and a lineup that included Cesar Izturis, who hadn’t played in a major league game since going on the disabled list May 13.

“It’s part of the job description. Not everybody’s going to have their people every day,” Showalter said.

“I could sit here and go down the list, but it doesn’t do any good. Your depth gets tested. I hope some of our guys look at it as an opportunity to establish themselves and prove themselves or come in and make a contribution. But that’s part of it. And hopefully we’ll get some good medicals back on J.J. and Chris, and hopefully we can get this taken care of with Zach (Britton).

“It’s kind of precautionary with Zach going on the DL. Potentially what we’re hearing and what we’re looking at, it might have been a one-start thing, but we want to make sure we get it taken care of completely. Some inflammation there in his shoulder, in a good spot, so to speak. I don’t think he’s real happy about it. It wasn’t anything he said he couldn’t pitch with. At this stage, I don’t like to take a chance there at all, so I think with this DL period we’ll be able to clear it up completely and hopefully not have it be a challenge for him the rest of the season.”

No further tests are planned on Britton’s left shoulder.

“I think it’s more trying to get the inflammation out of there,” Showalter said. “Initially right now, we don’t feel like it’s going to be something where he’s sitting there without a ball in his hand for the full 15 days and then start the rehab. I think he’ll be able, if things progress as we think they will, to be able to take maybe a rehab start, some innings, before the DL period is over. I look for him to be a pitcher after the DL period, but we’ll see how it goes.

“I know he was kind of cautious about even bringing it up to our medical people, but I’m glad he did. I think he didn’t want it to be viewed as an excuse for anything. He said he could pitch with it and velocity’s fine and he can do certain things, but he’s just not getting the recovery that he normally does.”

The Orioles won’t make any roster moves to add position players until getting the results of the MRI and CT scan.

“We’re fortunate that, it’s tough to get these types of tests set up on the weekend,” Showalter said. “I’m hoping that we can get our arms around what we’re dealing with timeframe-wise.”

Showalter said he was “really impressed” with Troy Patton, who retired the first nine batters he faced before being charged with one run after he left the game.

“I thought he threw the ball real well,” Showalter said. “The only reason why we stayed in that ballgame. Troy’s been pitching pretty well here. I’m proud of him.”